With a debt of more than $16 trillion, ongoing bickering about whether to cut expenses or raise revenues, the value of a dollar is lost on those doing the bickering. For the average American struggling to make ends meet, paying in excess of $20,000 for an oil portrait of cabinet secretaries and generals is the absolute epitome of ego-stroking and wasteful spending. Everyone agrees we need to cut expenses, yet this "tradition" is seen as petty in the grander scheme of federal expenditures and not worth addressing. Start tightening the belt everywhere, just as every citizen must do when funds are tight, and show Americans you really understand the value of even $1.



